Naruto: I make my own way!

The First day of school.

Form many, it's a joyous occasion where kids can interact with other kids and make friends while learning about various subject that will help them in life.

Yeah, all that is bullshit.

Let's be real here, at the very least 80 to 90% of what you learn in school is a waste. Maybe my numbers are wrong but let's be honest. If you're a farmer, when will you ever use the law of Coulomb for your farm?

Anyway, leaving my VERY biased pitch about school, Sora and Minato are actually quite happy about their new stage in life. Sora missed school sometimes due to his treatments so he's kinda excited to experience this uncharted territory.

Minato on the other hand is simply happy to interact with more people. Despite his personality, Minato doesn't interact with others as much as one would think. Sora deduced he was some degree of social anxiety, and he worries about other's opinion about himself.

(I made that part up because it struck me as something weird that Minato, despite being a bleeding-heart person, was only recognized by the villagers after his war feats were made public.)

Just as they were guided to the yard, the Third Hokage began his speech about the will of fire and whatnot. Or, how most fans like to call it: the brainwashing no jutsu. I'm skipping it just because I'm too lazy to actually look the speech up and copy paste it, instead, I like to write menial writing like this.

Back to the topic, the academy has various students divided in different classes from A to D, with subcategories from 1 to 4, said classes are assign depending on their talent and background. Most clan-based kids will be immediately sent to the upper classes from A-1 to A-4.

However, depending on the various exams, both physical and theoretical, students from the lower classes can ascend to higher classes as well. As to the why? Only students from the class A-1 can be selected for the privilege of being guided by a Jonin instructor.

Needless to say, that having a Jonin as an instructor will guarantee your training to reach a whole new level, which is why everyone covets the positions of said high class. However, there are some exceptions that will never be allowed to be taken off from that class, like the son of a hero to the village or a Jinchūriki.

Of course, no student knows about those things, so it doesn't really matter. The only students in the original story to have this privilege were: Uzumaki Naruto due both reasons and Uchiha Sasuke since Hiruzen was indebted to Itachi.

Additionally, the whole school education lasted only 4 to 6 years, so of course the classes were also divided between 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years. Same numbers of class but different years. There's also early graduation, but we'll talk about that later.

Sarutobi finished with his speech, and everyone went to their respective classes.

Before entering the academy, there's a small test given to those of common background to see if they're even qualified to enter the academy. Minato and Sora aced them but since the class A-1 was filled with clan kids they could only reach the class A-2.

Sora was given kind of a leisure for now due to the surgery he went and the Third Hokage felt that he deserved it for being so dedicated to the Hidden Leaf. How they rank up from here on out will depend on their performance.

The day began with the usual introductions, Sora and Minato were few of the commoners in the classroom as the rest were clansmen kids, but they didn't mind, they listened closely to the guide the teacher gave the class.

They will study a varied number of subjects, from history to math and then train from practical combat with each other to weapons practice.

Sora and Minato had quite a nice school day. Sora was expecting a bully, or something like in those mangas were the humble commoner gets bullied by the high-class asshole, but reality showed him that no one actually cared.

It was actually quite refreshing, Sora is now in the library with Minato researching as much as they can about the different subjects, since most of the subjects had almost no change compared to his past life, Sora decided to focus on history given that he still knows too little about the world he lives in.

"Hey, Minato, why do you think The First Hokage's words didn't reach his friend, Uchiha Madara?" Sora asked as he browsed through a book.

He just finished reading about the incident that happened almost 20 years ago. Uchiha Madara took control of the Nine-Tails and attacked the Hidden Leaf but was defeated and killed by The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

The book in question was the first edition of Senju Hashirama's memoirs, a book he wrote so that his story could be used to guide the later generation. It's unfortunate that in the future a certain one-eyed one-armed asshat would destroy all the books in an "accident" due to them spreading "false" propaganda.

"Hm… I really don't know. Madara-sama and The First-sama were childhood friends but were forced to clash with each other, after the warring states ended and The Hidden Leaf was founded, all that hatred between the Uchiha and Senju should've been buried." Minato.

"I feel that there's something we don't know here. If he wanted to quench his thirst for hatred, he would've just ordered Hashirama to kill himself and he would've complied like he did at the end of the warring states." Sora added his insight.

"Hm… it IS weird no matter how we look at it, but Uchiha Madara-sama and Senju Hashirama-sama have been dead for a lot of time. We won't get any answers at this point and even if we do, there's no changing what's already happened." Minato answered.

"Speaking of which, why the sudden interest there, Sora?" Minato asked puzzled.

He has read that book already and although some things did put him to think, he didn't see what amused Sora so much that he needed some comments from his part.

"It's just that, we've been living here our whole short lives, right? And I can count with a single finger the times I actually interacted with someone from the Uchiha clan." Sora explained.

"Akimichis? I've talked to them. Naras? Very gifted in the mind. Yamanakas? Doting of their daughters apparently. Even those Hyugas that have strict policies and the quiet Aburames have interacted with me more than the whole Uchiha clan." Sora.

"Well, now that you mention it. I've never had any interaction with the Uchiha clan so, I can't really say that I've had any unpleasant experiences with them." Minato.

"How many Uchihas are in our class?" Sora.

"There were four, I think. Mizuto, Alluto, Sarame and Madoka." Minato answered.

"Thanks, I may talk to them after the first week." Sora.

"Why take so long?" Minato.

"I need to get used to the school first. Also, it's a bit weird to suddenly try to get close to those you have no kinship towards. Slow and steady is better for what I'm trying to achieve." Sora.

"Which is?" Minato.

"I just want to at least be considered a companion to them, and not just them, everyone here in the academy." Sora.

"I didn't know you were that into getting friends." Minato.

"I've been having fun having you as my friend, I figured that the more the merrier, don't you think?" Sora.

In his past life, Sora didn't try to make friends since he knew he could die suddenly. He didn't want to bring sadness to someone close to him, his parents were enough. But now, he has the opportunity to enjoy friendship like never before.

Minato smiled at that and agreed.

"Then, when we have more friends, we should throw a party." Minato.

"That sounds amazing…!" Sora said with starry eyes.

The two friends kept reading until late afternoon and had to go home to rest.

(The next day.)

Another day of class and Sora was quite excited. Why? Because today would be the sparring practice. You see, yesterday was more of an introduction to the subjects they would be teaching, in other words, it was as "fake" school day since they didn't really learn much compared to later dates.

Ah, yes, I forgot that their homeroom sensei's name is Shouko Makoto. I'll just leave it there as the extra he is.

"Alright class! As you were told yesterday, today's training will be a simple sparring training between yourselves. I'll pass this box around here and you'll each take a paper from it. Based on the paper you'll be grouped with the person that has the adjacent number to yours. From then on, you'll keep fighting until we have a definitive winner. Questions?" Makoto asked.

"Sensei, are there any restrictions to how we fight?" Sora asked.

"Yes. You're not allowed to injure your opponent once they give up or I finish the match, the use of weapons is prohibited and no jutsus allowed, just Taijutsu." Makoto answered.

Sora nodded and already found loops in the rules about the dos and don'ts.

Just then, Sora was paired up against a kid named Inoichi Yamanaka whilst Minato got paired with Shikaku Nara.

"Alright, both of you do the unison sign before beginning the duel." Makoto instructed.

The unison sign is a way of saying "no hard feelings" after a fight happen between the younger ninjas. Since kids are prone to hold grudges, this was a nice way to prevent them.

Both Sora and Inoichi used their dominant hand's fingers to do the sign, with is like a handshake with the index and middle finger.

Sora and Inoichi then took distance from each other and prepared themselves.

"Ready… BEGIN!" Makoto.

Inoichi rushed at Sora while he just walked towards him. Sora's body isn't what it used to be. He couldn't just run around like any other kid anymore; his energy gets depleted faster.

In order to find a proper fighting style, he trained with Minato and produced the best way to fight while conserving energy.

Inoichi tried to deliver a kick to Sora's chest but failed when Sora let himself fall backwards. While his leg was wide open, Sora grabbed it with his legs and lifted Inoichi before slamming him back.

Counters.

The art of attacking your enemy right after they attack. Whether it's by receiving or dodging an attack, it allowed Sora a better probability at landing attacks giving his nerfed body.

Sora slowly got up as Inoichi scratched his head to brush off the pain. Sora just stood there and looked at Inoichi while preparing himself.

Inoichi got up and began to throw punches and kicks towards Sora, but he kept evading them with minimal movement. Compared to Minato's speed this was nothing, not only that but the attacks themselves were too simple.

There were no feints, no misdirection, no nothing that could throw Sora off his game. After tiring Inoichi Sora took the opportunity to throw him against the ground and put his foot inches away from Inoichi's throat and looks at Makoto.

Nodding at Sora's gaze, Makoto stepped forward and ended the match. He was quite impressed, he would've expected to see just kids clashing like pigs fighting over food, but he didn't expect that the first match would end like this.

Shikaku Nara was observing the whole combat with earnest detail. He knows Inoichi since their fathers were partners of the Ino-Shika-Cho combination of their era and let them get acquaintance with each other in order to create a better combination.

That's why he knew that Inoichi wasn't that weak in Taijutsu, however, Sora's fighting style completely overshadowed Inoichi and defeated him without wasting much strength, except for that initial takedown, Shikaku thinks that it was too much for it to be a conservative movement skill.

Still, he was then thrown into his own process about how he can fake a stomachache to prevent fighting Minato. He doesn't know anything about the kid, but he can practically see that he's oozing with energy and is ready to kick some ass, Shikaku doesn't want his ass to be kicked.

Eventually, he decided to do the smart thing and simply gives up the moment the battle started. When asked about it, he just said that it was a drag.

Sora didn't know why, but that sounded like a running gag.

Sora continued fighting with his conservative fighting style whereas Minato fought using speed and quick takedowns. Fron the top of the Hokage Building, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the new trainees with the telescope technique.

He's been aware of Sora for a long time. The only patient that survived the sealing procedure and kept living his life with little complications. Subsequently, he also found out about Namikaze Minato, a prodigy in learning jutsu and high-speed combat.

He also noted that both of them were the top scores of the theoretical exam despite being from common families. Hiruzen was already hoping that they become towering trees that'll shelter the newly grown buds for the sake of the Hidden Leaf.

Alas, he'll have to wait and see how they grow up. Just as he was thinking about the future, he realized that the matches advanced too quickly and now the finals were starting.

Namikaze Minato VS Suzuki Sora.

Sora expected this outcome. Even though he didn't look down on his peers, he knew that they couldn't beat Minato. The guy was just built different with those senses that could adapt to his monstrous speed.

"Figure you'd be here." Sora.

"Well, I did my best." Minato.

"Nice, it's time to see if I can finally beat you." Sora.

"You're finally going to get serious?" Minato.

"So, you knew, huh?" Sora.

"It's hard to not notice when someone's not fighting with the desire to win. I've sparred with my father many times and even though his goal is not to defeat me, I can still feel that desire of winning from him." Minato.

"That sound a bit petty." Sora.

"Right? But I don't mind. That just shows that he wants me to do my absolute best. Which is why I'm kind of excited to see my friend finally giving his all." Minato.

Minato's right. Sora never actually fought Minato with the intention of winning. He only ever fought to perfect his fighting stances and senses; he never had the hope to defeat the genius kid that could master chakra so quickly.

So, Sora always fought only to a certain degree in order to hone his skills. Even when he claimed that he "lost" he still didn't fight with all him strength. This is one of the reason Minato never considered any of their battles valid.

But here, in the academy, Minato and Sora had to give their all or else they could be demoted to a lower class, making it harder for them to enter a Jonin team.

Sora can't really use his actual 100% due to the seals but he's not worried, he has a special weapon for this fight in specific.

"Sensei. I request that we are allowed to use jutsus for the battle." Sora said after raising his hand.

"Me too, sensei." Minato mimicked Sora.

Seeing both of his students wanting to eliminate the restriction, Makoto was unsure about what to do. Just as he was about to answer, someone body flickered behind him.

"Let's allow it, Makoto." Hiruzen spoke.

"Third-sama!" Makoto bowed slightly.

Hiruzen acknowledge the bow and looked at both Sora and Minato.

"If you both want to use ninjutsu, it'll be allowed. However, keep in mind that you should regulate your strength to not injure too much your opponent, understood?" Hiruzen.

"Understood, Hokage-sama!" Both Minato and Sora answered.

The two kids took their positions and prepared themselves to the first of many battles they'll have in the future.